Photo of the Week: Mt Yasur Eruption, Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Mt Yasur is the most accessible live volcano in the world, with eruptions every five to ten minutes. The 15-minute trek to the crater increases the prospects of a shortened life, but that’s why thousands make it.

Photo of the Week: the Dazzling Colours of Sunset, The Maldives

As the waves of the Indian Ocean gently lap at your feet and the beach's slowly cooling sands, the sun’s last rays of the day paint the sky with a beautiful range of colours and tones.

Photo of the Week: Boats Bob in the Waters of Melissani Lake, Kefalonia, Greece

Melissani Lake is a pool of still water in a natural cave. Given the breathtaking beauty of the caves, they have always been an ideal site for rites associated with the divine.

Two 16th-century monuments of the Durbar Square of Patan on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami (the birth anniversary of Krishna), when thousands of pilgrims and devotees pay homage at a temple.

Photo of the Week: Fire-Knife Dancing in Samoa

Siva Afi, or fire-knife dancing, is one of the most exhilarating aspects of Samoan festivities. Although a traditional pre-war ritual that was used to psych up Samoan warrior, it is today a demonstration of agility.

Photo of the Week: The Church of Tisco, Arequipa, Peru

Tisco is one of the highest settlements in Peru's Colca Valley. This church, built before the 18th-century expulsion of Dominican monks Its geographical location, is distinguished by its red décor, made with ochre.

Photo of the Week: Beautiful Waters of the Bocas Islands, Panama

There is a unique vibe about the Bocas del Toro archipelago in far west Panama, the true gateway to the country for overlanders from Costa Rice. It's a bohemian calypso feel that even the hardest at heart will enjoy.

Photo of the Week: Cheetahs Posing, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Two cheetahs standing ready and vigilant in the rays of another remarkable day at the Selous Game Reserve, the largest ‘unscathed’ game reserve in Tanzania and a UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site.

The Responsible Safari Company and Youth for Development and Productivity are designing a Homestay Initiative through which guests can experience authentic village life in Malawi. With that in mind, I decided to experience a village homestay in Malawi myself.

Grasshoppers, crickets, assorted insects – down the hatch! Although it’s easy to dismiss Patong, as a tourist haven, you just can’t dismiss the exceptional street food in Thailand. To eat or not eat: that is the question. With the enjoyment of exotic culinary delights, however, comes environmental responsibility.

It is said that you can experience a culture through its food. This is no less true in Panama, where the local food, history and culture blend together. In fact, food in Panama is also directly connected to the history of the Canal. Any traveler that really wants to “go local” should start with a traditional Panamanian menu.

Visitors to Hoi An, Vietnam, almost always already know about its narrow streets flanked by traditional buildings full of colourful lanterns, fusion restaurants, and shoe or tailor shops. But not many people know about the other Hoi An – a fascinating typical Vietnamese countryside of rice paddies, thatched cottages, water coconut and huge fishing nets right where the peaceful Thu Bon River runs into the ocean.

What is poverty? To Mohammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi father of microfinance and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, poverty is the lack of control over capital. His answer to poverty is to harness the entrepreneurial spirit of the poor through low-interest microloans, mostly to women. Today, anyone can join the microfinance movement and offer capital to the poor through crowdfunding sites like the Geotourism Development Foundation or Kiva. Travellers can now also connect with borrowers in person through innovative microfinance tours.

With another year of pictures under our belt, it’s time again to spotlight our Photo of the Year – an image that most captured the imagination of The Travel Word team and a group of external judges. Like our Photo of the Year 2010 and Photo of the Year 2011, we believe this year’s winning image truly captures the imagination, a glimpse of something uncommon in a very familiar place.

THIS ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH AND PORTUGUESE. It’s easy to see why São Paulo, Brazil, with its gleaming skyscrapers and modern infrastructure, is thought of by many travellers as a concrete metropolis. São Paulo, however, has so much more to offer than meets the eye, especially to people who attend the 70,000 events it hosts per year as one of the world’s biggest event destinations, and to the business travellers who account for 60 per cent of the city’s foreign visitors.

On my last visit to Panama, I learned firsthand that the benefits of travel off the beaten path are not exclusive to the rich and famous. During my time to Panama, a country that for now remains relatively “undiscovered,” I was particularly enamoured of my stay on a remote island where the natural environment has been preserved through the conscientious efforts of an eco-development company.

Meaning “the victorious city,” Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in Africa, populated by more than 18 million people. Filling both banks of the Nile River in the north of the country, Cairo has been home to numerous Egyptian civilisations as far back as 6,000 years and is only a short distance from the world-famous pyramids of Giza. First time in Cairo? Here’s a list of the Top 10 things to do.